Role of the church as an intermediary in international conflict: a theological assessment of principled negotiation

This thesis explores the interface between conflict resolution theory and the theology and praxis of the church. One purpose is to demonstrate the value of theological ethics in the development of conflict resolution theory. A second purpose is to select and examine a particular conflict intervention role and assess its applicability as a potential model for the functioning of the church as an intermediary in the resolution of international conflict.The particular theory selected comes from the problem solving school of conflict resolution. At the same time, principled negotiation, developed by the Harvard Negotiation Project of Harvard Law School, has a very pragmatic orientation.This theory's applicability for the church is first assessed by examining two case studies, both examples of nonofficial third party intervention in some aspect of East-West relations during the Cold War. The first case is one where the authors of principled negotiation act as third party interveners. The second case examines the role played by a religious group, the Quakers, in a similar context.The final section of the thesis develops a theology of conciliation with which to assess the applicability of principled negotiation for use by the church. The result is an affirmation of the model's general appropriateness for use by the church. However, various adaptations in both theory and practice are recommended, in order to reflect the theological context within which the church operates and in order to make a contribution to the general development of conflict resolution theory

Some results concerning the fundamental nature of Wynn's vector epsilon algorithm

In this thesis, Wynn's Vector Epsilon Algorithm (VEA) is examined. Although the usefulness of this sequence-to-sequence transformation for inducing and enhancing convergence in vector sequences has been amply demonstrated by others, it is still not well understood. After reviewing some known important theoretical results for the VEA and its kernel (the full set of vector sequences which the VEA transforms to give a constant vector sequence), the author provides a sufficient and necessary condition for membership of a vector sequence in the real part of the kernel of the 1st order VEA. This kernel is shown to be the set of all real vector sequences {xn} converging toward, orbiting, or diverging away from some vector x where each term of the error sequence {xn-x} is a scaled and/or rotated version of the previous term of the error sequence, called λR sequences. This result is contrasted with one by McLeod and Graves-Morris. It is then shown that λR sequences may also be described as those sequences {xn} whose terms satisfy xn = x + znw + zn w where z ≠ 0, z ≠ 1, ||w|| > 0, and = 0. Numerical experiments by the author on vector sequences generated by the formula xn=Axn-1+b are reported. Circumstances are found under which the VEA order of such sequences is lower than the upper bound given by Brezinski. The reduction is triggered by the presence of certain orthogonal relationships between eigenvector and generalised eigenvector components whose corresponding Jordan blocks in the Jordan canonical form of A have complex conjugate eigenvalues. This empirical result anticipates the complex kernel of the 1st order VEA which is shown to be every sequence {xn} whose terms satisfy xn = x + znw₁ + znw₂ with z ≠ 0, z ≠ 1, ||w₁|| + ||w₂|| > 0, and = 0 and no others. Some remaining open questions are noted in the final chapter

Are we Bridging the Divide in IWO Psychology?

This paper examines the knowledge transfer process within the profession of work and organisational psychology. In consonance with the theme of the 2011 congress, it considers the extent to which proposed ‘bridging mechanisms’ can provide useful vehicles for operationalising the pursuit of the dual goal of improving both the well-being of individuals and the effectiveness of work organizations. It considers the way in which the profession attempts to ground its concepts in a sound evidence base and then successfully mobilise this knowledge at the interface of research and practice. It does so by critically examining the scientist-practitioner model and the ways in which this model can be operationalised by practitioners and researchers. The criticism which is aimed at academics is that their research is irrelevant; it explores narrow concepts too often with student samples. Practitioners, on the other hand, are accused of too infrequently bringing scientific findings from the research literature to their practice. The problem has been cast in terms of both one of knowledge production and also knowledge transfer and is typified, at least in one direction – the impact of research upon practice, by what has in other professions, most notably medicine and more recently management, been called evidence-based practice. Denise Rousseau, in her 2005 presidential address to the American Academy of Management defined evidence-based management (EBM) as “translating principles based on best evidence into organizational practices” and there have been a number of attempts to invoke a similar model of evidence-based practice in the field of work and organisational psychology. In 2007 Anderson described the academic-practitioner divide as ‘natural’, suggesting the way forward was to focus on ‘bridging mechanisms’ describing six which had been proposed at the 1995 SIOP conference. What is the situation over decade later? To what extent have these bridges been built? This paper explores the nature and extent of these bridges by presenting case studies and findings from a UK survey of IWO psychologists

The integrin alpha 6 beta 4 is a laminin receptor

In this study, the putative laminin receptor function of the alpha 6 beta 4 integrin was assessed. For this purpose, we used a human cell line, referred to as clone A, that was derived from a highly invasive, colon adenocarcinoma. This cell line, which expresses the alpha 6 beta 4 integrin, adheres to the E8 and not to the P1 fragment of laminin. The adhesion of clone A cells to laminin is extremely rapid with half-maximal adhesion observed at 5 min after plating. Adhesion to laminin is blocked by GoH3, and alpha 6 specific antibody (60% inhibition), as well as by A9, a beta 4 specific antibody (30% inhibition). Most importantly, we demonstrate that alpha 6 beta 4 binds specifically to laminin-Sepharose columns in the presence of either Mg2+ or Mn2+ and it is eluted from these columns with EDTA but not with NaCl. The alpha 6 beta 4 integrin does not bind to collagen-Sepharose, but the alpha 2 beta 1 integrin does bind. Clone A cells do not express alpha 6 beta 1 as evidenced by the following observations: (a) no beta 1 integrin is detected in beta 1 immunoblots of GoH3 immunoprecipitates; and (b) no alpha 6 beta 1 integrin is seen in GoH3 immunoprecipitates of clone A extracts that had been immunodepleted of all beta 4 containing integrin using the A9 antibody. These data establish that laminin is a ligand for the alpha 6 beta 4 integrin and that this integrin can function as a laminin receptor independently of alpha 6 beta 1

‘Caution! The Bread is Poisoned’: The Hong Kong Mass Poisoning of January 1857

This article examines the Hong Kong mass poisoning of 15 January 1857, in which bread from a Chinese bakery that supplied the colonial community was adulterated with arsenic. Even though there is a wealth of printed and manuscript documentation available many vital aspects of the poisoning remain unclear. What kind of incident was it: an act of terrorism and attempted mass murder, a war crime, a criminal conspiracy, an act of commercial sabotage, an accident or even an imagined or imaginary event? Throughout, our focus remains firmly fixed on the central act of the poisoning itself and on what it reveals about the precarious nature of early colonial Hong Kong. Interpretations have swarmed over the available ‘facts'. Equally ironic is what happened to the afterlife of how the event was understood. This article seeks to rescue the Hong Kong poisoning from being a freakish and isolated footnote of only local interest. Accepting this historical verdict would be a mistake as it is of significance not only at a local level, but geopolitically in Britain and across the empire

Effect of defects on reaction of NiO surface with Pb-contained solution

In order to understand the role of defects in chemical reactions, we used two types of samples, which are molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) grown NiO(001) film on Mg(001) substrate as the defect free NiO prototype and NiO grown on Ni(110) single crystal as the one with defects. In-situ observations for oxide-liquid interfacial structure and surface morphology were performed for both samples in water and Pb-contained solution using high-resolution X-ray reflectivity and atomic force microscopy. For the MBE grown NiO, no significant changes were detected in the high-resolution X-ray reflectivity data with monotonic increase in roughness. Meanwhile, in the case of native grown NiO on Ni(110), significant changes in both the morphology and atomistic structure at the interface were observed when immersed in water and Pb-contained solution. Our results provide simple and direct experimental evidence of the role of the defects in chemical reaction of oxide surfaces with both water and Pb-contained solution.ope

Pan-Cancer Analysis of lncRNA Regulation Supports Their Targeting of Cancer Genes in Each Tumor Context

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly dys-regulated in tumors, but only a handful are known toplay pathophysiological roles in cancer. We inferredlncRNAs that dysregulate cancer pathways, onco-genes, and tumor suppressors (cancer genes) bymodeling their effects on the activity of transcriptionfactors, RNA-binding proteins, and microRNAs in5,185 TCGA tumors and 1,019 ENCODE assays.Our predictions included hundreds of candidateonco- and tumor-suppressor lncRNAs (cancerlncRNAs) whose somatic alterations account for thedysregulation of dozens of cancer genes and path-ways in each of 14 tumor contexts. To demonstrateproof of concept, we showed that perturbations tar-geting OIP5-AS1 (an inferred tumor suppressor) andTUG1 and WT1-AS (inferred onco-lncRNAs) dysre-gulated cancer genes and altered proliferation ofbreast and gynecologic cancer cells. Our analysis in-dicates that, although most lncRNAs are dysregu-lated in a tumor-specific manner, some, includingOIP5-AS1, TUG1, NEAT1, MEG3, and TSIX, synergis-tically dysregulate cancer pathways in multiple tumorcontexts

Pan-cancer Alterations of the MYC Oncogene and Its Proximal Network across the Cancer Genome Atlas

Although theMYConcogene has been implicated incancer, a systematic assessment of alterations ofMYC, related transcription factors, and co-regulatoryproteins, forming the proximal MYC network (PMN),across human cancers is lacking. Using computa-tional approaches, we define genomic and proteo-mic features associated with MYC and the PMNacross the 33 cancers of The Cancer Genome Atlas.Pan-cancer, 28% of all samples had at least one ofthe MYC paralogs amplified. In contrast, the MYCantagonists MGA and MNT were the most frequentlymutated or deleted members, proposing a roleas tumor suppressors.MYCalterations were mutu-ally exclusive withPIK3CA,PTEN,APC,orBRAFalterations, suggesting that MYC is a distinct onco-genic driver. Expression analysis revealed MYC-associated pathways in tumor subtypes, such asimmune response and growth factor signaling; chro-matin, translation, and DNA replication/repair wereconserved pan-cancer. This analysis reveals insightsinto MYC biology and is a reference for biomarkersand therapeutics for cancers with alterations ofMYC or the PMN

Genomic, Pathway Network, and Immunologic Features Distinguishing Squamous Carcinomas

This integrated, multiplatform PanCancer Atlas study co-mapped and identified distinguishing molecular features of squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs) from five sites associated with smokin

Spatial Organization and Molecular Correlation of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes Using Deep Learning on Pathology Images

Beyond sample curation and basic pathologic characterization, the digitized H&E-stained images of TCGA samples remain underutilized. To highlight this resource, we present mappings of tumorinfiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) based on H&E images from 13 TCGA tumor types. These TIL maps are derived through computational staining using a convolutional neural network trained to classify patches of images. Affinity propagation revealed local spatial structure in TIL patterns and correlation with overall survival. TIL map structural patterns were grouped using standard histopathological parameters. These patterns are enriched in particular T cell subpopulations derived from molecular measures. TIL densities and spatial structure were differentially enriched among tumor types, immune subtypes, and tumor molecular subtypes, implying that spatial infiltrate state could reflect particular tumor cell aberration states. Obtaining spatial lymphocytic patterns linked to the rich genomic characterization of TCGA samples demonstrates one use for the TCGA image archives with insights into the tumor-immune microenvironment